Copyholder attachment for typewriters



Nov. 11, 1930.

L. T. MATHEWS COPYHOLDER ATTACHMENT FOR TYPEWRITERS Original Filed Jan. 11, 1927 3 Sheets-Sheet l nun l l l I I m. 66H

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Patented Nov. 11 1930 I 1 UNITED STATES PATENT: OFFIC Louis 'r. MATHEWS, or HOUSTON, rnxAs' COPYHOLDER ATTACHMENT FOR. TYPEWRITERS Application filed January 11, 1927, Serial No. 160,349. Renewed July 11, 1930.

My invention relates to copyholders to be Fig. 7 is a side elevation of the copyholder. employed with typewriters and other similar Fig. 8 is a. top planview of the indicator. typing machines wherein the copy is held Fig. 9 is a front elevationthereof. Fig.10 for the convenience of the typist, and means is an edge view of said indicator. Fig. 11

are provided for marking the position of the is a broken elevation of a portion of the typetypist in copying from the notes. This inwriter with my line clamping means there- 00 vention is an improvement upon the conon; andFig. 12 is a side elevation of the parts struction disclosed in my prior Patent No. shown in 11. Like numerals of refer- 1,587,342, issued June lst, 1926. ence are employed to indicate like partsin An object of the invention is to provide all the views. 55

a position indicator for use with a copy- The general construction of my copyholder holder which will be convenient to attach to is quite similar to'the structure disclosed in and be operated by the typewriter. It is demy prior patent, above referred to. The sired that the copyholder be provided with holder comprises an uprightframe compris- 15 markers to indicate the position of the pointer ing a base member 1, a rear plate 2 secured 60 as to the line of the copy which is being opthereto and extending upwardly tothe deerated upon and the position of the pointer sired height, the said rear plate having two on said line. forwardly extending flanges 3 thereon.

It is an object to provide an automatic Secured to the plate 2 is an adjustable means for adjusting the marker through the holder plate 4:, the forward face of which is 65 operation of the typewriter itself. a plane and having rearwardly extending. It is a further object to provide a marker flanges 5 thereon to fit about the flanges 8 so constructed asto engage and operate upon upon the rear plate upon which the holder sheets of copy of any desired width. plate is adapted to slide. The said flanges 5 The invention further resides inmeans are curved inwardly at therearward side to upon the typewriter for adjustably engagengage about the supporting rear plate 2. ing the indicator controlling means. It is The holder plate 4 is adjustable upon the also desired to construct an indicator which rear plate by means of a flexible cord, indiis adjustable upon the connecting line. Other cated at 6. Said cord is secured to the holder objects and advantages reside in the particuplate adjacent the lower endthereof at'each 7 lar construction and arrangement of the parts side and extends upwardly over the rollers and will be set out with detail in the speci- 7 and 8 and thence downwardly between the fication which follows. plates 2 and 4 about a pulley 9, thence lat- Referring to the drawing herewith, Fig. 1 'erally around a pulley 10 and forwardly to is a front elevation of a copyholder einbodybe wound about a spool ll to which the line so ing my invention. Fig. 2 is a rear elevation, is secured by a screw 12, or othersimilar certain parts being broken away. Fig. 3 is means. It will be noted that when the flexa brokendetailof the graduated scale indi'- ible line 6' iswound about the spool 11 it eating the position of tne pointer on the line will serve to elevate the holder in an obvious 4.0 which is being copied. Fig. 4 is a detail of. manner. 5

the lever controlling the adjustment of the The means by which the holder plate 4 is copyholder. Fig. 5 is a vertical section operated through the spool 10 can best be through the operating lever and the parts understood from Figs. 4, 5 and 6. The spool operated thereby. Fig. 6 is a side elevation 11 is mounted upon a shaft 13 which ex ends of theoperating lever and its connected parts. through the side walls of a narrowsheet metal so into position for operation by the typistb The arm 18 is pivoted at 20 to a bracket 21 upon a hand-operated lever 22.

The lever 22 1s PIVOtGdfltltS forwardend 23 upon a pin mounted in the housing. The

arm of lever 22 extends upwardly within the housing and through fiUl opening v83 therein andis then extended forwardly and provided with a handle 24 adjacent the operator. The

. lever 'arm 22 is heldnormally in raised position by means of a spring 25, one end of which is attached to the housing and the other end to the forward portion ofthe lever.

It will be noted that the forward movement of the said lever is limited byan adjustable setscrew 26 secured through "the top wall o f the casing immediately above said lever. The lever 18 extends through an opening 27 inthe lever 22and is held normally in raised position by a spring 28 secured to the lever arm 22. V r I It'fwill be noted, therefore, that when the arm 22 is pushed downwardly by the operator it will rotate the spool 11 to wind the flexible line6 thereon. When it is desired to release the line 6to allow the holder to drop, the lever 19 is'also depressed, forcing the pawl 17 out of contact with the ratchet and against the pawl 15 in such manner as "to disengage the pawl 15 and allow the line to be unreeled. A

spring 30 secured to the lower wall of the housing and bearing against the ratchet wheel 15 tends. to prevent 'too rapid rotation of the wheel under the weight of the holder. Two shock absorbing springs 31 are mounted o'n the base immediately below the holder to receivethe shock of the holder "when it is dropped, and further to prevent jar uponthe apparatus.

The present invention includes an automatic means for moving the copyholder through the operation of the typewriter. In

erforming this function, the carriage of the typewriter is adapted to engage an upwardly extending arm 32, shown best in Figs. 1 an d6. Said arm 32 is provided with openings 33 therein for connection by a thumb screw 34 to a lever arm 32, the lower end of which is mounted upon a supporting axis '35. The joint in the arm 32 thus provided allows theupper portion of the operating arm to be thrown laterally out of the way of the car-' riage of the typewriter when the automatic operation is dispensed with.

The axis or shaft 35 is mounted at its ends in brackets 36 secured to the side wall of the housing so as to allow rotative movement of the axis in said brackets. Secured upon the shaft 35 is a laterally extending arm 37 extending to a point directly over the operating lever 22 and adapted to engage said lever when said shaft 35 is rotated by the carriage of the typewriter. A spring 38 upon the shaftj35 tends to hold the arm37 upwardly out of engagement with the arm 22. A stop member 39 extending into the path of said arm limits its movement upwardly.

In the use of this automatic adjusting means, the typewritercarriage will engage with the arm 32 adjacent the end of its move- :ment in typing-and willimove said arm to the right of its position in Fig. 1. This will rotate theshaft and force'the arm 37 against the operating arm 22 and depress said arm so as to rotate the spool and move the copy'holder, as previously described. It is to be understood that the depression of the lever 22 in this manner will be sufficient to elevate the holder {1: one space upon the copy.

The holder plate l is provided, adjacent the left-hand edge thereof, with a graduated'scale an, the marks thereon being spaced the proper distance apart to markthe usual distance between lines typed by the typewriter. The holder will,therefore, move through the adjustment of the operating means one orsomeinultiple of these spaces at each move-- ment'of the operating lever 22.

The paper or manuscript constituting the copy which is being typed will be held upon theholder plate 4 by clamping'means so arranged as to allow the use of sheets of any ordinary width, thus making it unnecessary to provide difierent widths of holders. This clamping means includes as its principal member a frame made up of a U-shaped rod 41 having two side arms extending vertically upward at each side of the holding plate 4, as shown in Fig. 1. The lower ends ofthese two rods are connected by a cross member 42, shown in Fig. 2. This cross member is-mounted to rock in brackets til-at each side of the frame. Between the arms the cross member is curved upwardly to providea crank arm at the rear of the frame. To the upwardly extending crank arm 42 of th'e'cross-member I attach tension springs 43, secured to brackets 14: at the lower end of the frame and extending rearwardly therefrom to exert a pull outwardly and downwardly, as shown in Fig. 7. The pull exerted by the springs 43 tends to hold the upper ends ofthe rods rearwardly or toward the holding plate 4;, as will be easily understood from Fig. 7.

The upper ends of the rods are attached to the ends of the marker 45, which is held straight edge rule having a scale 46 there-- on with degrees marked thereonthe usual distance apart of the letters in the typewritten matter.. This marker is made up. of

a piece of sheet metal secured to the upper ends of said rods 41 and having an upper edge 47 bent rearwardly to bear against the face of the holder, as shown in Fig. 7. The body of the plate is recurved .upwardly at the lower end, the recurved portion being spaced from thebody to include a pulley 48 at each end of the said marker within which a flexible line 49 may pass;- Said line 49, extends downwardly at each end about a pulley 50 at one side of the holder and a drum 51 at the opposite side of the holder, said drum being supported upon a frame comprising brackets 52 mounted upon the rods 41 at each side of the holder, said brackets including a forwardly extending arm 53 thereon,

at the outer end of which is a spacing rod 54,

each end of which is recurved to include a pin 55, upon which the pulley or drum is royferent spools of said drum will control the space to which the line is moved by the typewriter.

9 The line '49 has a pointer or indicator 56, the construction of which is shown in Figs. 8, 9 and 10. It comprises a plate or strip of metal, the upper end 56 of which is pointed and curved rearwardly to lie against the edge of the marker 45. The lower end'of the strip is curved upwardly in front ofthe body of the marker to a point adjacent the upturned edge of the marker 45 and is then curved forwardly and. downwardly to lie against the scale 40 upon the marker. This forwardly directed member 58 moves with the line to indicate that point upon the typewriter, shown by the pointer on the ordinary typewriter scale, which is usually found upon typewriters. It is understood, there fore, that the scale 40 on the marker is a duplicate of the scale ordinarily found upon a typewriter and that the marking pointer 58 is moved simultaneously with the marker on thetypewriter scale.

The marker has two laterally extending arms 59, the ends 60 of which are forked and bent forwardly at an inclination, as shown in Fig. 8. A U-shaped spring member 61 has its lower end within the recurved portion of the marker and its arms extend upwardly within the inturned fingers 60 of the arms 59. This spring member 61 is curved forwardly at 62 at the upper ends to provide handles which may be engaged by the operator and pressed inwardly toward the marker. The flexible line 49, which extends between the drums'50 and 51, passesthrough said pointer between the arms of the spring member 61 and the arms 59. Toengage this marker at its desired position uponthe line 49, the ends 2 of the spring arepressed inwardly so as to loosen their hold upon the line 49. The pointer may. then be adjusted laterally along. the line to any desiredpoint. The.

handle 62. maylthen'be released and the resili I iency of'the spring will force the arms of the spring member 61 into the space behind the fingers 6O and'thustend to 'clamp the line49 between the spring member 61 and the arms 59, as will be understood from Figs. Sand 9.

Upon the usual typewriter there is upon the carriage of the typewriter,above the cylindrical plate 64, a curved plate; 65'of sheet metal, which is sometimes called the paper table. I contemplate securing tothis curved member 65 of the typewriter twospaced spring arms 66, the lower ends of which are extended laterally at an angle to the body of the spring and secured on opposite sides of the typewriter table 65. These two spring arms are thusspaced apart by the thickness of the table 65, as shownin'Fig. 12. The arms 66 are curved rearwardly away from the typewriter toward the copy and have slidably thereon a collar 67-. Said collar fits tightly over said arms andtends to compress them toward each other] Thus, when the line 49 is engaged between the arms 66, as shown in Fig. 12, the sleeve67 may be moved toward the point where the line 49 is engaged and will clamp the arms together, thus clamping-theline securely to the typewriter carriage. This position of the clamping memher is indicated in Fig. 1, the plate 65 being shown in dotted lines. I I

The copy is held to the face of the holder largely by means of the marker 45. There are also at the upper end of the holder plate 4 additionalclamping arms 68, which are preferably formed upon the ends ofa rod 69; Said rod extends across the rearward side of the plate 4 and has a downwardly, curved central portion 7 0, to which is secured a tension spring 71, which, as shown in Fig. '2', tends to throw the outer ends of said rod forwardly against the face of the holder. Said rod is journaled in brackets 72 at the side of the frame and the ends are curved upwardly and forwardly and the ends then bent laterally parallel with the face of the plate, the lateral arms 7 3 thus provided, being adapted to lie against the face of the copy and hold it against the plate 4. It will be observed that the copy lying against the face of the plate may be of any desired width, as the edges of said copy sheet may extend laterally bene-ath the arms 68.

I'have also provided an arm 75, shown in my prior patent above referred to, said arm lying upon the top of the plate, as shown in Fig. 1, and acting to hold the copy in posi- In case an unsuallywide sheet of copyisz being handled, 'lsupportthe same at each side ofthehold'er plate by means of arms 76.

Said arms'aremadeupof the straight rods extending through openings 77 in the sides of the frame and through brackets 7 8 mounted V at the upper edge of the frame on the rear- "war'd'side thereof. A cotter pin or other similar means 79 may extend through the inner ends of said rods and limit their movement outwardly. When not in use, they may be movedinwardly, sliding within the frame in .i an obvious manner to a position out of the way. As a provision for further usefulness ofthe holder, I may place a mirror, indicated at'80, within the plate 4: at a central point, saidmirror adding to thegeneral appearance of the holder and serving a useful purpose whenthecopy is removed. r

The operation of this device will be clear from the description already given. The copyholder will be placed in proper spaced relation relative tothe typewriter practically immediately behind the machine. The line 49 operating the indicator will be then clamped between the two spring members 66 on the typewriter carriage, so that the movement of the carriage will move the line simu1- taneouslyand to the same degree as the carria'ge is moved. 7 The movement of the carriage will move the pointer along the scale 46 to the same degree that the pointer upon the typewriter is moved, so that the typist may set the pointer both on the typewriter'andthe indicatorat the same point on the scale to indicatewherethe line begins upon the copy being made. As the typewriter carriage approaches the end of the line which is typed, it will engage thefarm 32 of the marker operating mechanism and will force the arm 22 downwardly to rotate the ratchet wheel andthe spool 11, so as to wind up the flexible cord 6 and elevate the copyholder, the movement of the lever being sufficient to elevate the copyholderthe equivalent of one space on the copy.

It is believed that the improvements herein made upon the copyholder shownin my prior patent will be obvious Without further description.

What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patentis:

'1. In atypewriter copyholder, a base, an upright frame thereon, a copyholding plate slidable thereon, a flexible line secured to said plate and arranged to raise said plate on said frame, a spool to which said line is attached for Winding, ahand lever operatively con nected with said spool, and a carriage-engaging lever extending upwardly above said hand lever and adapted to engage and move said 'hand lever inthe manner described 2. In 'combinatioma typewriter including lever adjacent said typewriter operatively connected with said'copyholder to move the same, a rotatable shaft adjacent said hand lever, a carrlage engagmg lever extend ng above said'handleverand fixedto said shaft, 7

an arm on said carriage-engaging lever adapted to contact withsalid hand lever'and to depress the same when said carria'g e engages said carriage-engaging lever.

l. In combination, atypewriter including a movable carriage, a copyholder vertically adjustable relative to said typewriter, a hand lever adjacent said typewriter operatively connected with said copyholder to move "the same, a carriage-engaging lever extending above said hand lever, an arm onsaidrcarma ze-engaging lever'adaptedto contact with said'h and lever and todepress tlies'ame when said carriage engages said carriage-engaging lever, and means to normally hold said arm out of contact with said hand lever.

In combination, a typewriter including a movable carriage, a copyholder vertically adj ust-able relative to said typewritena hand lever adjacent said typewriter operatively connected with said copyholder to move the same, a carriage-engaging lever extending above said hand lever, and an arm on said carriage-engaging lever adapted to contact with said hand leverand to depress the same when said carriage engages said carriageengaging lever, said carriage-engaging lever being jointed to fold out of the path of said carriage.

6. A copyholder, including a base, an up right frame thereon, a copyholding plate slidable on said frame, a line marker adjacent the upper end of said frame and means to hold said marker resiliently against said plate comprising a U-shaped rod, the arms of which extend upwardly at each side and in front of said plate, the lower end of said rod being adjacent said base and curved to extend behind said plate, supporting brackets for said rod and. springs acting 'to hold said arms toward said plate.

7. A copyholder, including a base, an upright frame thereon, a copyholding plate slidable on said frame, a line marker, and means to hold saidmarkerresiliently-against said plate comprising U-shaped rod, the arms of which extend upwardly at each side lot - clude any desired width of paper, and means on said base connected with said arms and holding said marker against said plate.

9. In a copyholder, a base, a frame thereon, a holder plate slidable on said frame, a line marker, supporting arms for said marker secured to each end thereof, said arms being spaced slightly in front of said plate to include any desired width of paper, and means on said base connected with said arms and holding said marker against said plate.

10. In a copyholder including a holder plate, a line marker thereon and a flexible line movable along said marker, the combination of an indicator on said line comprising a strip of metal with its upper end pointed to project above said marker, its lower end being recurved in front of said line, and having its tip bent downwardly in front of said marker, a pair of inclined guide fingers at each side of said metal strip, and a U-shaped spring fitting resiliently under said guide fingers and adapted to clamp said line against said strip.

11. In a copyholder including a holder 7 plate, a line marker thereon and a flexible line movable along said marker, the combination of an indicator on said line comprising a metal strip having its ends formed into pointers, one directed upwardly along said marker and the other downwardly, a pair of inclined guide fingers at each side of said metal strip, and a U-shaped spring fitting resilient- 1y under said guide fingers and adapted to clamp said line against said strip.

12. In a copyholder including a holder plate, a line marker thereon, said marker having a graduated, scale thereon and a flexible line movable along said marker, the combination of an indicator on said line compris ing a metal strip having its ends formed'into pointers, one directed upwardly along said marker and the other downwardly to bear upon said scale, a pair of inclined guide fingers at each side of said metal strip, and a U-shaped spring fitting resiliently under said guide fingers and adapted to clamp said line against said strip.

13. In a typewriter including a movablecarriage, a sheet metal plate thereon, a pair of resilient arms secured to said plate on opposite sides thereof and curved rearwardly of said carriage, and a collar fitting slidably on said arms and tending to force said arms toward each other to act as a line gripping means.

14, A copyholder including a base, an upright frame, a copyholding plate slidable thereon, arms pivoted at their lower ends on said frame adjacent said base, and extending upwardly in front of said plate, and a marker at the upper ends of said arms.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signzature this 6th day of January, A. D'. 192

LOUIS T. MATHEWS. 

